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Credit: University of Cincinnati
PORTLAND, OR - A first-of-its-kind randomized clinical trial found that patients with pancreatic cancer didn t live any longer than expected after receiving pre-operative chemotherapy from either of the two standard regimens, according to trial results published in
JAMA Oncology.
While the trial findings did not show a direct patient benefit, they do show that it s possible to safely administer chemotherapy prior to pancreatic cancer surgery. They also pave the way for better treatment testing for this notorious killer. With no symptoms in the early stages, and few effective therapies, pancreatic cancer is the fourth-most deadly cancer type in the United States. According to the American Cancer Society, only 20 percent of pancreatic cancer patients are alive one year after diagnosis. After five years, only about 7 percent are alive.
What if we captured the spirit and urgency of Covid-19 research to cure cancer?
Covid-19 stands as a litmus test for pushing the boundaries of standardized research processes. Let’s use this shared focus, urgency, and the new partnerships being forged, to invigorate and accelerate cancer research.
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In recent months, scientists and policymakers around the globe have rallied together with one common goal: to eliminate Covid-19. Budgets have been revised to funnel money toward research, competitive barriers between scientists and companies have been lowered, and regulatory processes have been reworked to help safe and effective drugs and vaccines get to patients faster. It’s a time of urgency, of disruptive healthcare changes, and of creative problem-solving.
Credit: SWOG Cancer Research Network
Researchers from SWOG Cancer Research Network, a cancer clinical trials group funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, have shown that a triple drug combination - of irinotecan, cetuximab, and vemurafenib - is a more powerful tumor fighter and keeps people with metastatic colon cancer disease free for a significantly longer period of time compared with patients treated with irinotecan and cetuximab.
Results of the SWOG study, led by Scott Kopetz, MD, PhD, of M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, are published in the
Journal of Clinical Oncology. The findings are expected to change the standard of care for patients with colorectal cancer that is metastatic - when tumors spread to other parts of the body - and includes a mutation in the BRAF gene called V600E. This mutation is found in about 10 percent of metastatic colorectal cancers and tumors with the mutation rarely responds to treatment, resulting in
Landmark study finds how often cancer patients develop osteonecrosis of the jaw
A landmark study by researchers from the SWOG Cancer Research Network, a cancer clinical trials group funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has found that 2.8 percent of patients on average develop osteonecrosis of the jaw, or ONJ, within three years of starting a common treatment for cancer that has spread to the bone.
Appearing in
JAMA Oncology, the findings are important because the treatment, zoledronic acid, is prescribed to tens of thousands of patients whose cancer has spread to the bone. Almost all forms of cancer can spread, or metastasize, to bone but the most common are lung, breast, and prostate cancers and multiple myeloma. Zoledronic acid can protect bone, but is associated with a risk of ONJ, which causes exposed bone in the jaw that does not heal. This causes inflammation and pain in the mouth, and people with ONJ may have troub
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IMAGE: Dr. Catherine Van Poznak is the co-chair of a new SWOG Cancer Research Network trial that details, for the first time, the incidence of a common bone disease in cancer. view more
Credit: University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center
PORTLAND, OR - A landmark study by researchers from the SWOG Cancer Research Network, a cancer clinical trials group funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has found that 2.8 percent of patients on average develop osteonecrosis of the jaw, or ONJ, within three years of starting a common treatment for cancer that has spread to the bone.